Implementation of the legal aid Directive in Spain
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Universidad de Valladolid
info
ISSN: 1862-6947
Año de publicación: 2020
Título del ejemplar: New Challenges for Judicial Cooperation in Spain
Número: 1
Páginas: 55-59
Tipo: Artículo
Otras publicaciones en: Eucrim: the European Criminal Law Associations' fórum
Resumen
The vast differences among the national standards for granting legal aid pushed the European Commission to propose common minimum rules in order to harmonize this right. This initiative was intended to ensure the effectiveness of the right of access to a lawyer, because the right of access to a lawyer can only be genuine if free legal aid is guaranteed when necessary. On the one hand, the implementation of the (finally adopted) Directive 2016/1919 into national law raises new questions; on the other hand, it has also been useful in resolving legal inconsistencies. This is the case in Spain, where the parliament implemented the Directive in 2018. This article informs the reader about the main contents and deficiencies of this implementation and on how Spanish judges have influenced the Spanish legislator with their jurisprudence by applying European standards even before the entry into force of Directive 2016/1919.